Waterfowl Outfitter Directory            Upland Bird Outfitter Directory

Choose Alberta for your Bird Hunt!

Alberta offers world class sporting opportunities for the wing shooter.

The following is a brief description of what's available for species and hunting for each region of the province.

The Boreal and Peace Country:

The ruffed grouse is the most abundant upland game bird the boreal fringe offers and is the best ruffy hunting in the province and maybe the continent. Sharp-tailed grouse, spruce grouse and ptarmigan also occur in the boreal.

The Peace Country may be the very best goose-hunting destination on the continent. Thousands of local and migrating Canada geese stage in northwest Alberta’s Peace country throughout September and October. The Peace country is a large block of parkland habitat surrounded by forests of poplar and mixed coniferous trees. Running throughout the “Peace” is the mighty Peace River and several large lakes and wetlands provide additional staging habitat for migrating wildfowl. This is the first place where the geese are introduced to sportsmen and the birds are naive and rarely shy from a blind.

As with the geese, ducks (particularly mallards) stage in the Peace parklands by the thousands. The abundant mallards share the same food source as the geese and very often mallards are shot prior to and in between goose flights. The large wetlands and lakes of the Peace parklands the boreal forests also offer some of the best diver hunts in the West. There are literally countless water-bodies throughout the North that have never seen a duck boat.

Late September and early October is the ideal time to witness the migration of most duck species.

The Parkland:

Ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge are common and locally abundant.

The aspen parkland is home to the highest densities of breeding mallards on the continent. Add to this, numerous flocks of locally raised Canada geese and tremendous numbers of migrating Canada’s, snow geese and white-fronted geese and ducks of all species. All three species of geese with several species of ducks can comprise the bag limit on any single hunt.

The migration is in full swing by the beginning of the season in mid-September and lasts until the end of October in most years.

The birds will fly into a small body of water near the field. It is here that the birds are intercepted. These hunts can be fast and furious, often with thousands of ducks recklessly winging into your decoys.

The Foothills and Mountains:

Upland bird hunting opportunities exist throughout the region for ruffed grouse, blue grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, spruce grouse and Hungarian partridge.

Duck and goose hunting in this region is fairly localized and the majority of opportunities occur along the eastern boundary near to farming country. The region is best known for late season shooting especially in the south. Warm water springs throughout southwest Alberta provide the only open water refuge for tens of thousands of wintering mallards. Opportunities for ducks and geese exist from early September in the north through to late December in the south.

The Prairie:

Southern Alberta is Canada’s pheasant capital. The Hungarian partridge is the most successful upland game bird in terms of relative abundance. The sharp-tailed grouse population is in great shape in recent years and limit or near limit shoots are now common. Best of all, all three species can be harvested on the same day, in the same area.

Southern Alberta is known worldwide for its quality waterfowling opportunities. Sharing the Pacific and Central Flyways, Southern Alberta is blessed with millions of migrating ducks and geese. The prairies have thousands of acres of staging water with very low hunting pressure. Field shooting of large Canada geese is particularly attractive to visiting sportsmen, with many shoots being complimented with wave after wave of mallards and pintails.

Big water shooting opportunities are plentiful for divers, dabblers or mixed bag hunts, with virtually no competition. The migration and seasons begin in early September and continue through to the end of the season in late December, although most shallow wetlands are frozen by the first of November.